Tag: Italian Cooking Classes

Students Singing to their Pasta

The first time I walked into Maria Di Ciero’s kitchen, I realized I wasn’t walking. I was bopping and rocking to the music that was as much a part of her kitchen as fresh fruits, vegetables and local meats. While Maria kneaded and rolled her way through a batch of tagliatelle and instructed us in Southern Italian cooking,music filled the air. What happens in Pontelandolfo stays in Pontelandolfo – but some of the visiting women played air guitar with rolling pins and spatulas.

Maria is part of the creative duo that created “Perugini Franco Marcelleria Moderna.” She and her husband, Franco Perugini, have a butcher shop committed to selling local meats, developing recipes for sausages – fresh and dried – and torcinelli. Their torcinelli, sono fatti con budelline di agnello (made with lamb intestines), is served in restaurants all through the province. Torcinelli is a regional delicacy and theirs is top-notch.

Even though Maria works in the butcher shop, she still makes lunch for her extended family. One of the recipes that she shares with the folks who participate in Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo is her tagliatelle. Take lots of grovin’ music, flour, eggs and a crazy fun filled kitchen and you get golden tagliatelle to sing about.

The ingredients are simply – 1.5 kilo semolina; 14 eggs – you use one egg per person you are feeding and she averages 14 people a day; and a little salt.

The first thing Maria did was plunk a HUGE pasta board down on the table. It has a lip on one end so that it hooks itself to the table and doesn’t wiggle and jiggle as you dance your way through kneading and rolling.

Here are the steps:

Dump the flour into a pile on the wooden board,

Using your hands dig out the center and make a bowl out of the flour.

Crack open the eggs and dump whole eggs in the center of the flour. She does this with one hand and it looks seamless. I did it with one hand and got egg on my sleeve, the table and everywhere but the flour bowl.

Scramble the eggs. My question was, why couldn’t I scramble them in a bowl and then dump them into the flour. Everyone in the room looked at me like I was the devil’s spawn.

Gradually pull flour into the center with a fork. You are making the moist dough – this is not a quick process and can be messy. Well, when I did it there was a mess – my flour needed a little Dutch boy to plug the dike. Everyone else managed easily.

Then start kneading by pushing away and pulling towards you. She used the heel of her hands and the dough folded over itself and made a little smiley face.

If the dough is too stiff add a little water. Small eggs could be the reason the moisture to flour ratio is dry.

Too much to handle? Cut the dough into smaller hunks. Let one hunk rest and work another. Actually, she said this is the better way to do it.

Knead for a minimum of 15 minutes. You cannot over knead. When your hands become warmer it is easier to work pasta. Fold and push, push and fold, dance to the rhythm of the flour.

When you work on it, pay attention to wrinkles and folds. Make it into a ball and at the same time take all creases out.

Do not cry. Do not admit you don’t have the stamina of an Italian homemaker. Do not whine. Drink wine and knead.

It is done when you can feel that it is done – no holes, no strings. It is completely smooth.

When one hunk is done wrap in plastic to keep the moisture in.

Let dough rest a minimum of 1/2 hour.

Take off your shoes, rub your feet and have another glass of wine.

Rolling the dough:

Put a clean cotton cloth down somewhere to hold and dry the pasta on. Maria has another huge board that she balances between two chairs in front of a grand window. Draped in a tablecloth, the pasta alter waits for an offering.

Roll out the dough into a circle. Constantly rotating it and using your hands from the center out – pushing on the dowel. Yes, a dowel. A really long dowel was used for this and Maria’s hands raced from the center to the ends as she rolled. Her hands were cupped and really spread the dough on the rolling pin.

The dough is ready when it is almost transparent. She made us hold it up to see if we could do shadow puppets behind it. It was fun and relaxed our hand muscles.

Let big circle rest for about 10 minutes. This is a good time to sneak outside of her house and stare at the mountains.

Use a spirone– pastry cutting and ravioli wheel. Cut the pasta into thin strips. No problem if they’re not the same size exactly. This is home-made not precision machine made pasta.

You can use the dough and wheel to cut smaller pieces – pinch the center and voilà you have a bow tie pasta.

Or if you are in the mood for a hearty dish – cut it wider for lasagna.

Dry whatever pasta you made on the cotton cloth.

This pasta can be frozen. Maria makes huge batches – I wonder why??? Oh yeah, she works and runs home to make a huge lunch. If you freeze the pasta do not defrost it. Just put the frozen pasta in the boiling water.

That day, we made a simple pesto – that allowed us to really taste the pasta. With a mortar and pestle we smashed together fresh basil, olive oil, garlic and pignoli nuts. Walnuts are great to use too. (This lazy author would probably pull out my food processor!)

Yummy! Come play with us!

We still have some spots left in our September 8-15th and May 12 – 19th

Cook, Eat Laugh! That is exactly what happens each time a group of adventurous foodies – women and men – come to Pontelandolfo and hang out in local kitchens and learn the dishes that nonnas have been sharing for generations. Pontelandolfo – to me – is an example of the best that Italy has to offer. No backpack swinging tourists. No overpriced cappuccinos. Simply incredible mountain views, fresh foods cooked seasonally, a population that embraces life with joy and a welcoming attitude that surrounds all newcomers.

Just a scant two years ago, Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo was an idea floating around a kitchen table. How could we bring some tourism money to Southern Italy and not promote the town into another jammed packed tourist site. The “ah- ha” moment came when a visitor said to me, I would love to just spend a week here living like the Pontelandolfese. Bingo! Together with a group of homemakers an incredible opportunity, for folks who love to cook and travel off the beaten tourist track, was born. Visitors have been Cooking, Eating and Laughing ever since we produced the first event in May 2016.

Our First Group Visited Our Historic Tower

Now it is your turn! Cook, Eat, Laugh! Become part of a small Southern Italian village’s life. See a different part of Italy and taste dishes that go back generations.

Pranzo (lunch) at an agriturismo. A great example of Italian Farm-to-Table eating.

4 half-day cooking classes with local cooks. After preparing the dishes for pranzo or cena you will sit down and eat with the family. Here is an example from September 2018 – some of you may have seen this!

English Speaking Translator for all classes and events.

Wine and artesian food tasting at a local vintner

Pontelandolfo Day – open air market, tasting of locally produced products and other activities.

Excursion to Sepino Altilia Roman Ruins

Walking Tour of Historical Pontelandolfo

Visits to another village’s cultural site or a cultural activity – to be determined.

Last night “arriverderci” with all the local cooks.

Apron

Written recipes in English.

Regretfully, there are no special dietary considerations. This medieval village has charming cobblestone streets but it is not handicapped accessible. The adventure and experience in the home of local families requires the ability to climb stairs, walk on uneven streets and feel comfortable in a hilly environment.

To see more photos of Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo, visit our Facebook Page.

Cook, Eat and Laugh with us!

Registration materials and financial information will be sent via e-mail to those that want to join the adventure. info@nonnasmulberrytree.com

You’ve seen lots of folks “cry in their beer.” But, I’m willing to bet that I’m the only person on the planet seen crying over cooked pig’s feet. As I slurped the meat and fat off the bones cooked to perfection in parrozz, I could feel my nonna hugging me and hear the squabbling of my Italo-Americano family fill the Flagtown farmhouse kitchen. Parrozz- what the heck is parrozz? Thank you Angelamaria Addona of B&B Calvello for whisking me – and our group of Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo September 2017 cooks – back in time. To the time when subsistence farming, foraging and eating every single bit of the animal you raised was the norm.

Kathy, one of my best foodie buds, couldn’t believe it when I called her about this dish. I literally had started crying when I ate it and when I talked about it. Crying for my Nonna Rosa, Zia Caterina and all the elders of my family who not only had made this dish after foraging for dandelions and wild fennel but passed me the mapeen so I could wipe my hands on the communal towel after sucking the meat off every bone in my bowl. Pig parts and weeds, I said to Kathy. Pig parts and weeds – so delicious that I could have stayed at B&B Calvello long after the van came to pick up the American cooks and kept on eating. Kathy suggested that I stop calling the dish “pig parts and weeds”. In dialect it is called Parrozz con Cacchiarella!

In her turn of the 20th century kitchen, Angela made parrozz – vegetable and meat soup/stew – and cacchiarella – unleavened corn bread. Parrozz con cacchiarella is a dish that dates back to the time my ancestors scampered over our Sannio hills searching for what today’s foodies call edibles.

If you are not afraid to forage, here is how you make it. Go out in the field and pick what ever vegetable green is in season. Verdure di compagnia– greens from the countryside. She used the white part of bietola, which is in the rhubarb family. Cicoria, chicory, was raising its green head on the countryside so that was the second veggie. She washed the veggies and cut them in big chunks. They were tossed in a pot and covered with water with a dash of salt. When the water came to a boil the veggies simmered for half an hour.

Angela cooked some local cabbage leaves while pig parts were cooking away in yet another pot. These are the parts of the pig I LOVE – pig’s ear, feet, cheeks etc. Boiling softens them and lets some of the grease out. After the pork had cooked, she tossed out most of the water and layered the cooked vegetables on top of the pork pieces. Chunks of garlic were tossed into the fray. Do not mix it up! Top it with the pre-cooked cabbage. Think of this as a green lid. Toss a wee bit of salt on top and a tiny bit of olive oil. Not a lot since the pig parts are full of fat. Cover the pot and cook it very slowly on a low heat. It is great with wild fennel – but they weren’t in season now – so Angela added fennel seeds.

A wee bit later, Angela took the lid off the parrozz to let the extra water evaporate. She lowered the flame even more and pushed the cabbage down on in the pot. Do not turn the pot! The pig parts stay on the bottom and the vegetables stay on the top! The minestra will be bubbling, you will smell the pork and veggies and keep on wanting to stir it up. DON’T! Leave the pot alone and let it simmer along until the weeds – oops – I mean greens are cooked and the scent of pork wafts through the kitchen.

When the liquid comes to the top and the veggies sink. Turn it off!!! It is finished. But what about the cornbread called Cacchiarella? You would have been working on it while the soup/stew was bubbling away.

The first step to making the cacchiarella made no sense to me – until my ah ha moment later. Take giant cabbage leaves and cut off the bottoms and slit the core a wee bit. Wet them and put them in the sun so that they will wilt and get flat. Then go out to the fields and cut some sambuca tree branches to make a broom. Why? You will of course be using a wood burning oven and need the broom to push the coals back to the side while maintaining the temperature of the oven. Wet a second broom to really clean the base of the oven. Oops, guess I forgot to mention that Angela’s kitchen has a wood burning oven and stove!

Back to the corn bread. Make a flat circle out of four or five flattened cabbage leaves. Flatten them further. They are now the tray or parchment paper for the corn bread. The corn bread she made with our Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo cooks included 600 ML of water, 1 kilogram of corn meal, 4 spoons of salt – well they were spoons, a hand full of wild fennel seeds and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Knead it up! Take your aggressions out on the dough! Meanwhile, for a few hours your wood burning oven has been filling the air with the scent of days gone bye. Oh, only use olive tree wood in the oven and when the bricks turn white sweep the coals over to one side with a broom made with sambuca leaves. Then take the dough and spread it out on the cabbage leaves and with your handy pizza peel slide it into the prepared wood burning oven. Wheeeooo, this is a lot of work. Watch it rise and fall and turn a golden brown. Then pull it out and remove the cabbage leaves – let it cool a second or more first. Rip up the corn bread and add it to the top of the soup/stew pot. Serve it immediately and watch me salivate. Watch the tape and enjoy.

You too can learn traditional Southern Italian cooking. Join us.

Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo May 19 -26 and September 8-15, 2018

Mary, Leona, Ellie, Lynn, Dana, Flora, Charleen and Nancy

Cook in the Kitchen’s of Pontelandolfo!

WOW what a jam packed week of great food, incredible women and a village that opened its hearts and buildings to embrace the Americans who came to Cook in the Kitchen’s ofPontelandolfo! The families that opened their kitchens loved the experience so much that we are going to offer the program again this September.

I had this fantasy that every night I would regale you with the tales of what happened that day. Who the women were, what we learned how to cook, what we ate, what, what, what…. Sigh…. I tried, I really did but at the end of the day all I could do was crawl into bed and get ready for the next day’s adventure. Oooo – how could you think I didn’t try – look here is a couple of paragraphs on Day 1!

Le Donne Vengono Oggi

Hotel ready – check! Wait – will they be hungry?
Rosella remembered that if people were coming at 1:00 PM they would need lunch. We raced to Il Forno and bought panini and cookies. Then on to the fruit and vegetable truck for tons of fresh fruit. Then on to the the Mini Market for water, plates and napkins. Then on to the B&B – for – for – Waiting. We set up our welcome table and our swag bags and waited. The five women from Rome didn’t get here when we thought they would. Jack and one of our translators, Annarita were sitting in front of Bar Elimar to flag them down. I was afraid they would be drunk by the time the women came. Rats – it is 2:00 PM – where are they? 2:10 – Jack called – they are here!

What a great group of women! An extended family full of love, laughter and spark. We got folks settled in their rooms making sure that Mary – the groups catalyst – had a great room with the mountain view. Within minutes she had posted the view on Facebook. Yes!

Nicola had taken our slick 9 passenger Ducati Fiat plumino to Benevento. He was waiting for the two women from Milan via Naples. My stomach was in knots hoping that they made their connection in Naples – I’m guessing since they only had 20 minutes that their stomachs were in knots too. Rossella was calm. I was pretending to be calm. Finally, I got a text. They are here! Then I got a call – we are in a bar waiting for the passenger from Firenze via Rome.

Meanwhile, I did my dancing bear act and reviewed the agenda with the first group – encouraged them to eat the fruit, cookies and sandwiches – even though they had stopped on the highway. Rosella said I was very professional!

That is all I wrote in 16 days! Me who is the blabber blogger only wrote a measly few words. What I did do was shoot lots of video on my fancy HD video camera, scribbled frantic notes during every cooking lesson and made sure that the eight adventurous American women who wanted to live the life of a small Southern Italian village had a great time. I promise that recipes will be posted, videos will be edited and you will all know more about this glorious week. Here is a quick little video that highlights our wonderful First – Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo week. (There is more to read after the video.) Click Here For Video

Stolen from the Pontelandolfo News who stole them from Facebook – are what some of the women said about the experience –

Dana got an “A” for best sausage making! We started out with a side of pork and culminated into a delicious meal!! Grazie Mille Franco and Maria for opening your home and hearts to us.

I am in awe learning how to roll dough for pasta. No words needed. Grazie Maria!

Each day our hearts are filled with the love of the women of Pontelandolfo. Today, group A spent the day with Carmela Fusco, who we knew we loved before we met her, because her daughters have been helping us all week. We made homemade cavatelli with a meat sauce, eggplant with fresh tomatoes, fruit salad and a beautiful nutella pastry!

Today we made pizza in the brick oven with Nicola and tiramisu. He is a very special man and made our last day a perfect one. I think we were all a little tired today, but we still ended on a high note at his beautiful home. Grazie Mille Nicola!

Tonight we must say goodbye to all the wonderful people we’ve met.Midge Guerrera has given us the opportunity to become a part of the beautiful town of Pontelandolfo for a week and we are forever grateful.

It has been an amazing week and anyone who has been following us should seriously consider coming when Midge offers this again. The village has embraced us with open arms and lots of fun.

Now, how could I not announce right here for the very first time – the Second Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo adventure will be September 3 – 10 2016! This fall – imagine Labor Day Weekend here in Pontelandolfo! For information leave a comment.